November 2016

Post-Ebola recovery has been marked by a significant recovery and enrollment is up to the 2011 – 12 levels. (Photo credit: Katie Meyler/More Than Me)

In March 2014, Liberia announced that there were two suspected cases of Ebola in Lofa and Nimba counties. Six months later, Ebola had spread to 14 of the 15 counties of the country and a state of emergency had been declared. By the time the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that Liberia was officially ‘Ebola free’ in May 2015, more than 10,000 Liberians had contracted the virus and the economic fortunes of the post conflict nation had faced a significant downturn.

However, one of the key constraints to economic growth in Africa is the lack of adequate and well-maintained infrastructure. Various studies on the infrastructure deficit have been carried out by multi-lateral agencies, most notably a World Bank study which revealed that the annual financial requirement for infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is about US$93 billion a year for both capital expenditures and maintenance. To finance this, only US$45 billion is being mobilized, two-thirds paid for by African governments and citizens, 8% by multilateral and bilateral donors and the rest by the private sector in emerging economies. There is therefore an estimated funding gap of US$50 billion a year.